For the Child's Sake
by Stevethebarbarian
Summary: When the True Pacifist ending doesn't end well, Frisk's friends are given the choice of risking their lives to save them, or simply taking their happy ending and walking away. And in the end, thanks to ASRIEL, Frisk learns that they're never alone. Mostly a combat story with some feels. Pretty long, getting longer. Will be done 'fore long. AU 004.
1. Chapter 1: Never Alone

And it ended. ASRIEL was down. Frisk had won. The Barrier had been destroyed. Everyone was free. This was the happy ending. Each monster present expressed their gratitude differently. Papyrus leapt up and down cheering, practically worshipping Frisk's name. Undyne tried, and failed to suppress her gratitude, and eventually just picked Frisk up and smothered him with kisses in gratitude. Alphys seemed to simply look off into the distance, in a state that could only be described as shock. Toriel hugged the child, and held them with her for well over a minute, wordlessly. Asgore didn't know how to react, so he didn't. He just smiled. Sans' reaction was the most muted, and yet the one that meant the most. He just looked at Frisk, smiled widely, and patted him on the back.

"nice work, kid."

Getting even that slight praise from Sans meant more to Frisk than the wild reactions of all the others present, since Frisk knew full well that Sans didn't give away compliments easily.

Frisk smiled. Everyone smiled. They were all having a thoroughly good time. And then it happened.

" _ **I hate to interrupt…"**_

Before any of those present had time to react, Frisk had suddenly been impaled through the chest from behind by a black tendril. Alphys literally almost had a heart attack, and Papyrus screamed in terror.

Sans' eyes went black, instantly so.

The tendril pulled back out of Frisk's body.

"HUMAN! NOOOO!"

Alphys still staggered by the entire event, managed to catch her breath enough to make an important observation.

"W-why… why haven't they RESET? Why the hell haven't they RESET!?"

"cause that bastard took their SOUL."

Toriel managed a gasp, the first breath she'd taken since she heard the voice.

"S-so… they're… _dead?"_

Undyne put on her game face.

"N-no… they couldn't be… not after everything that's happened…"

"don't worry. they're not dead. their SOUL is still alive inside gaster."

"W-what… did y-you say… G-g-gaster!?"

"yup."

" _ **Indeed he did, my fellow monsters. I am disappointed in you. I have to ask- why would you be willing to befriend the**_ **inherent enemy** _ **of your entire race?"**_

Undyne, having no idea of who this "Gaster" was, charged.

"HE JUST FREED US ALL! HE'S SAVED ALL OF OUR LIVES! HE BROKE DOWN THE BARRIER! If a human like that is an enemy to all monsters…"

Undyne raised her spear, and prepared to thrust it at Gaster, who at this point wasn't much more than an undefined shadow.

"THEN SO AM I!"

Gaster hardly flinched. He simply lifted a hand, and Undyne was sent hurling through the air, straight back to the group that was standing there.

Sans was struggling to contain his rage. After all this time. After everything that had happened. Not only had Gaster _dared_ to show his ugly face in this timeline, but he had done so by _killing the kid._ Sans wasn't going to stand for that. Again and again, he had let Chara get away with Genocide until the very end, and then, if they spared as much as one person, he just _let them get away with it._ He couldn't _stand it._ He wasn't going to let that happen again. They had just gotten their happy ending. He couldn't afford not to care anymore. And yet he knew full well that he didn't stand a _ghost_ of a chance against Gaster with Frisk's SOUL. Hell, they were evenly matched when Gaster _didn't_ have a human SOUL to use, with the edge going to Gaster.

He couldn't win. And so he just boiled.

" _ **Indeed. He broke down the Barrier. You are free. This is your happy ending. So go. Leave me."**_

"YOU… YOU KILLED THEM! YOU KILLED THE HUMAN! WHY!?"

"C-calm down, Papyrus! Trust me, you _don't_ want to anger G-gaster."

" _ **See, Alphys has the right idea. Trust the good doctor and leave."**_

"I-I… I… I n-never… I n… I. Never. Said. We. Should. Leave."

For the first time since ASRIEL had been defeated, Asgore spoke up.

"Agreed! If Sans here is to be believed, then the human can still be revived if you return the SOUL. _Do so."_

" _ **Oh, I must apologize, great King Asgore, but I cannot allow you to have the SOUL. It is mine now. Go to the surface. Have your happy ending. And**_ **forget** _ **about the human."**_

Sans, up to this point, had been at the verge of transforming into his battle mode and simply trying his best to straight-up kill Gaster, but he knew he couldn't. A single tear fell down his bony cheek as his pupils slowly returned.

"it's not worth it… it's either just him… or all of us."

"YOU'RE SUGGESTING WE _GIVE UP,_ SANS? JUST LIKE YOU TO DO SOMETHING SO LAZY!"

"i'm not saying we should give up, pap. i'm saying we should _live._ it's a lost cause. alphys, be the voice of reason here. let's just get out."

Toriel's rage had been boiling up to this point, actually blocking out her grief.

"SANS! When I talked to you so many times through the Barrier, I thought you were a good person! I had begun to like you! In fact, I had begun to cherish our conversations! They were the bright point in my days, weeks, months! But now, I see what you are. All this time, you've been a _coward!_ Now, I don't know about any of the rest of you, but I am _not_ going to back down and let some _freak_ take my _child!_ Undyne! You would have _died_ in the Hotlands had they not brought you water! Alphys! Have you ever thought of any time in your life as happy? _Ever?_ No! Not until that human entered your life did you _ever_ enjoy it! SANS! You owe so much to this child. _So, so much!_ And yet you will let them be _murdered,_ and just _walk away!_ You are worse than Asgore! You aren't just a weakling, and a fool… you're a coward as well! I, for one, will not let this stand! Your name is Gaster, is it not? Well, I will tell you one last time! Give. Me. Back. My. Child!"

Toriel was literally aflame with rage, and… fire. A large ball of flame hovered in each of her hands as she shuddered with fury, moments from attacking Gaster with all of her power, Undyne's failure be damned.

"No, mom, please. You'll die."

In an instant, the fire was snuffed. Toriel and Asgore spun around faster than they would have if someone had told them they were about to be stabbed in the back. They knew that voice. They always had. They would never forget. That was the voice of Asriel Dreemur. Not ASRIEL. Asriel. Their child.

He stood there, quite awkwardly, to say the least. He didn't know quite what to say, or do. He knew he only had a few more hours, perhaps even minutes, before he became Flowey again. He didn't want to force Toriel and Asgore to see that happen to him… again. But he couldn't stand by and watch as Gaster killed them all. When he was ASRIEL, the absolute GOD of HYPERDEATH, he had seen everything. He knew _almost_ everything. And, unlike almost everyone else in the universe, he could see W. D. Gaster. He could _feel_ him. And, even as ASRIEL, he feared him. Perhaps this was just the natural fear of a child from ghosts, from haunts, from spooks. But ASRIEL didn't think so. He thought that it was a legitimate fear, and while it was true that Gaster posed no threat to ASRIEL, he did pose a threat to Asriel, and he posed a threat to all of the other people there.

And, strangely, the thing that most compelled him to ACT, to SAVE them… wasn't a desire to save his parents. It was a desire to save Frisk. That was a strange thing, when you think about it. He had only known the human for less than 45 minutes, and he had been trying to kill him for 90% of the time. But Frisk, in the seven weeks they had been in the Underground, had done more to help monster-kind than all the other monsters that had ever lived- combined. And Asriel didn't want to see them die. Not from a cheap shot like that.

"ASRIEL!"

Both Toriel and Asgore charged Asriel wildly, nearly leaping at him and grabbing them into their arms, before both of them fell silent and simply sobbed uncontrollably.

"Hi mom. Hi dad. It's good to see you. It's uh… been a while."

Neither of the Underground's royal family paid much attention. Nor did they pay attention to the rather annoyed W. D. Gaster.

" _ **Asriel is alive? How did**_ **that** _ **happen?"**_

"the kid works miracles, gaster."

" _ **B-but… I never saw it…"**_

"neither did i, and you and i both know how much i can see."

" _ **Yes, but I'm on a completely different leve- NO! I will not stand for this! Leave now, or be destroyed!"**_

"Oh. Gaster sounds angry. Mom, dad, please, listen to me for a second. HEY! You guys listen up too! You can't beat Gaster, apart, together or any other way."

Toriel and Asgore didn't know quite how to react to this.

"But you _can_ win! You just need a little… push."

"W-what does that mean, child?"

"Duh! It means you need _these."_

Asriel held out his hands. Sans smiled.

In those hands, those little, child's hands, lay the six most important objects in the universe.

Asriel was holding the SOULS.


	2. Chapter 2: DETERMINATION

"Are those…"

Asgore didn't know quite how to react. In five minutes, the human had been killed, his old scientist W. D. Gaster proved to still be alive despite all evidence to the contrary, his long-dead _son_ had proved to still be alive, and now his son _had the SOULS._ Truth be known, it was quite overwhelming, even for a great king like him.

"C-child… the SOULS… how did you get those?"

"Well, um… it's a long story. I'm Flowey."

Toriel gasped. Asgore, not knowing quite who Flowey was, simply looked on, even more confused.

"Yeah, well, um… when Alphys was doing her experiments with DETERMINATION, she put some into the plants in dad's garden, but my dust was in there, so my dust mixed into the flowers, and one of them came alive… and I didn't have compassion. I couldn't feel, or even really think… I'm sorry for what I did to all of you."

"Child, please, don't apologize… Asriel, it isn't your fault that all of that happened to you. Oh! I'm so sorry for striking you back at the RUINS!"

"It wasn't your fault. And you saved Frisk's life. Wasn't that worth it?"

"I-I…"

"You don't need to answer. We both know it's true. But please, listen. I only have a few minutes left before I turn back into a flower. Please. Take the SOULS. Use them to defeat Gaster and bring Frisk back. Please. Take it as a dying wish. Please, mom. Just forget you saw me."

Toriel had tears streaming down her cheeks. So did Asgore.

"Child… Asriel… I _swear_ to you… I- _we_ will find a way to bring you back. To give you back your feeling."

"Thank you… I was so tired of being a flower. But now, you _have_ to stop Gaster. You don't understand what he's capable of, especially with Frisk's SOUL. Please. You won't just be saving Frisk, and you won't just be saving yourself. You'll be saving this timeline, you'll be saving _all_ the timelines. Sans understands. He under **sans."**

Toriel flashed the slightest ghost of a smile. Sans simply smiled wider. He was just like his mom.

Asriel hugged his parents one more time, waved to the other monsters, and then walked off, leaving the SOULS with Toriel.

" _ **Why, how convenient! That leaves me with**_ **seven** _ **SOULS, doesn't it? Now I won't have to go looking for them! I think I like that child. Hand over the SOULS,**_ **now."**

"well, um, i think that would kind of defeat the point."

"INDEED! I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT THE ATTITUDE OF MY COMPATRIOTS INDICATES THAT YOU ARE AN ENEMY! AND YOU KILLED THE HUMAN! AND THE WORDS OF MY COMPATRIOTS INDICATE THAT WE CAN GET HIM BACK BY _KICKING YOUR ASSININE."_

Despite the circumstances, Undyne laughed out loud.

"Really, Sans?"

"don't judge."

" _ **I have had enough of this. Give. Me. The. SOULS."**_

Gaster raised his hands in the air and began to float, the lines running through his skull beginning to "glow" black, if you can imagine the phenomenon. They seemed to literally be sucking the light out from around them.

"N-no! I w-won't let you have Frisk!"

Alphys had her fists clenched, and although her trembling betrayed her terror, she wasn't stepping down. Undyne walked up to her side and raised her spear, pointing it at Gaster menacingly. She seemed to have completely forgotten about the effortless whipping Gaster had given her earlier.

"I'm with Alphys. Give us back the SOUL."

Papyrus took a deep breath and clenched his own fists. He closed his eyes, took in another deep breath, and stepped up to stand with Undyne and Alphys.

"AGREED, MYSTERIOUS MAN WITH LINES ON HIS FACE! WE WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE OUR FRIEND!"

Sans suddenly disappeared, leaving an afterimage for a split-second before appearing at Papyrus' side.

"that's right, buddy. give us back frisk's SOUL or you're gonna have a bad time."

Asgore lumbered slowly over to the group, pulling out his massive magical trident, and slamming it down on the ground hard enough to cause a small earthquake.

"Indeed! Gaster! As your king, I _order_ you to return the SOUL to us, under penalty of…"

The king pointed his trident at Gaster, in a similar manner to Undyne.

"An extremely over-the top pounding."

Toriel stepped calmly and yet terrifyingly at Gaster.

"That, or death, whichever seems appropriate at the moment."

" _ **None of you seem to understand exactly what you are up against. If you do not surrender the SOULS,**_ **right now,** _ **I will destroy all of you. Starting with you, Sans."**_

"waaait a second, buddy. you're trying to _scare_ me?"

Sans cracked his knuckles.

"big mistake. you're about to get dunked on."

" _ **Oh, Sans, so easily offended. That was not an attempt to scare you. It was not a threat. It was a**_ **warning."**

"G-gaster! You can't beat all of us!"

" _ **Oh, my dear Alphys, showing some bravery at last. I pity you. How wrong you are."**_

Alphys was getting angry. As in, more than she had been before.

"It's not like _you_ n-never made any mistakes!"

"owch. low blow, alphys."

" _ **At least I only made**_ **one.** "

Toriel had boiled over. She was done waiting.

"You made two. Actually… you made three."

" _ **I'm curious. What's the third."**_

"well, buddy, i'd be willing to bet at least one of 'em has something to do with not watching your back."

Gaster spun on his heels, turning just in time to be blasted by one of Toriel's fireballs from behind, one that she had covertly cast earlier.

"Now, my friends! Catch!"

Toriel hurled the SOULS at her allies, each one grabbing their own. Sans gripped one with telekinesis, grabbing it and forcefully toward his hand. Papyrus leaped up in the air clumsily, grabbing his like a baseball player. Alphys reached out and attempted to snatch hers out of the air, but failed, missing it. Moments later, she had it handed to her by Undyne, who _had_ caught it, along with her own. Asgore simply let his fall into his hand, and looked at it, contemplatively.

He had had the opportunity to do this for years. And he never had. He wondered what it would be like. To have a human SOUL. To have all that power. Like Asriel had. He only feared that he wouldn't use it wisely.

All these years, he hadn't been weak. He hadn't been a fool. He had been a coward, to afraid of doing anything wrong to try to do something _right._ He had tried to take the SOULS by force because he thought that if he went outside the Underground and ended up like Asriel, then the Underground would be without a king, and he fancied himself too great a ruler to be lost.

Toriel held her soul, and pulled it close to her heart.

"I will not fail you, my child."

"you really wanna do this, gaster? once we use these SOULS… there's no going back."

" _ **D-don't make me laugh! I'll destroy you!"**_

"but making people laugh is my thing."

"I HATE TO BREAK IT TO YOU, SANS, BUT YOUR JOKES AREN'T VERY FUNNY."

"eh. all that matters is that we're about to pound gaster until that white face of his turns back and blue to match the rest of him."

"THAT DOSEN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOUR JOKES AREN'T FUNNY."

" _ **To be fair, Papyrus,**_ **that one was."**

"oooh, intimidating ghost man. how original."

"W-we don't have time for this! Eventually, Frisk's DETERMINATION is going to fail, and then they'll…"

"i feel you, alphys. let's do this."

"Right!"

"INDEED!"

"We shall teach this Gaster who he is messing with!"

"Now."

The six monsters standing there in a row each pressed the SOULS into their bodies, and a blinding flash of light exploded in the eyes of everyone present.

Gaster frowned. More than usual.

When the light died down, everything had changed.

Undyne's armor had changed, and she now had a large stylized heart on her chest. Her eye patch was gone, and in it's place, ethereal spears repeatedly stabbed into her empty socket.

Alphys stood there, glaring at Gaster. One of the lenses on her glasses glowed white, while the other was completely opaque, making it impossible to see either of her eyes. She was wearing her lab coat, except now, instead of being loose and flowing, it was tight and stylized, actually approximating the appearances of characters out of her beloved anime.

Papyrus appeared as he normally did, except for the fact that a red hood was pulled over his head, making it somewhat difficult to see the blue flame billowing out of his right eye. His battle body had changed somewhat in color, and was now a bright, almost glowing scarlet.

Asgore stood tall, appearing extremely similar to how he looked when Frisk had been about to fight him. The main noticeable change was the red flame pouring out of his left eye and, from there, looping repeatedly around his body like fiery rings.

Sans was the only one with no extreme change, the only difference in his normal appearance being the red flame that burned in his left eye, and the fact that his smile looked quite a bit different. Rather than being a comedic smile, like his usual one, or the nearly insane grin he wore during the Genocide route, this one seemed simply happy. He seemed to honestly be enjoying himself, and the prospect of rescuing Frisk for once.

Toriel was a completely different story. She floated above the ground, her hands crossed over her chest like a woman in prayer. Her eyes were closed, but not tight enough to completely cut off the flame that peeked out of her eyelids and snaked around her body in the style of her ex-husband's, and her clothes had changed to become completely white in color. The tears running down her face also glowed brightly, suddenly giving Gaster a flashback of a "bad time" he had had in a completely different universe.

Hell, he thought, not even just a different timeline.

" _ **Aha. The Great and Mighty Alphys. I haven't seen you in a while. And Undyne the Undying. Speaking of that, shouldn't you all have names? It seems like every superhero should have a name."**_

Toriel almost _growled._

"Do not _mock us,_ Gaster."

"hey, don't worry about it, tori. gaster's got a good idea. i'll call myself… super sans…"

The skeleton put his head on his hand and tapped his cheek thoughtfully.

"does that sound lame? nah."

Gaster frowned. This was getting _really_ familiar.


	3. Chapter 3: Wretched Destroyer Gaster

" _ **What is wrong with you!? Why don't you just accept the inevitable and give me the SOULS! Not only do I have all of my superior abilities, but I have almost all of**_ **yours** _ **as well!"**_

"WAIT, WHAT?"

Alphys smiled at Papyrus' confusion. She would normally have been absolutely petrified upon being reminded of that particular ability of Gaster's, but she currently didn't have a cowardly bone in her body. The Great and Mighty Alphys had come out to play.

"Yeah, I may have forgotten to tell you about that… see… he kinda has the ability to use _any_ power he wants if he practices it enough. And it looks like that ability has increased in strength as well, along with the rest of him."

Toriel, again, was practically growling.

"And? What does it matter? It's all of us together against someone with the power of all of us. That gives _us_ the advantage, because _we_ can attack all at once."

"and besides, he said _almost_ all of our abilities. i doubt he can do much to copy these."

Sans snapped his fingers, summoning in his small army of gasterblasters. No one could say why they hated Gaster so much, but they did. It was just the facts. And they also loved Sans, which was quite convenient for those aiming to retrieve Frisk's SOUL.

"i know we've been over this, but i'm gonna ask you _one more time._ give back frisk's SOUL, or you are going to have a bad time."

" _ **All your insistence on getting a peaceful resolution proves is that you fear a confrontation. My dear enemies, you fear wisely. I am the one making ultimatums here. So just give me the SOULS, and we can go our separate wa-"**_

Gaster was suddenly interrupted in mid-boast by a fireball from Toriel, who had simply aimed her open palm and lauched the fiery bolt.

" _ **welp. it was worth a try."**_

"that's real cute."

" _ **Of course it is."**_

Undyne was getting just as impatient as Toriel had been. She raised her spear and got into a combat stance.

"Let's just get to it already!"

Alphys followed suit, raising her hand to build two laser turrets from scratch behind her, which trained their sights on Gaster.

"Yeah! Let's get going!"

Asgore clenched his fists, and raised his trident over his head.

"I agree with both of you! If Gaster isn't giving up, then there is no use in wasting any more of our time!"

Papyrus was the next to answer, summoning a bone out of the ground to function as his weapon.

"INDEED! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS TIRED OF WAITING! LET'S BRING DOWN THE MAN WITH THE STRANGE FACE AND GET FRISK'S SOUL BACK!"

Sans cracked his knuckles, before putting his hands back into his pockets and winking with his right eye. When his eye reopened, there was nothing there, just a black void, strongly contrasted against the burning flame of his left eye. His gasterblasters floated protectively next to him.

"ok, buddy. get ready to have a bad time."

Toriel closed her eyes once again, and seemed to let out a quiet prayer, before clenching her fists and allowing flame to burn down her arms.

"I am ready. Make your move, Gaster!"

" _ **I appreciate you giving me the advantage, but, to tell the truth…"**_

Suddenly the ex-scientist melted into a puddle, becoming even more incorporeal than usual, before disappearing entirely. An instant later, he reappeared, teleporting behind Undyne to land a heavy kick on her side, sending her flying.

" _ **That advantage would be much better suited for you."**_

Sans snapped his fingers, and his gasterblasters fired, but Gaster weaved skillfully through their attacks until he had reached Sans, forcing the monsters to give up their attacks in order to protect their master more directly, serving as shields.

"hey, careful, guys! he hits hard!"

" _ **Indeed I do, Sans! Indeed I do!"**_

Gaster lowered his palm and the hole in his palm shimmered for a split-second before he released a pulse of invisible concentrated energy, blowing away the entire area and leaving a crater sixty feet long and fifteen feet wide. When the dust cleared, moments later, Sans was gone.

"what? you think i'm just gonna stand there and take it?"

" _ **Of course I don't, Sans. I know you much too well for that."**_

"Think fast, creep!"

Suddenly, leaping out from behind Gaster, Undyne and Alphys let off a joint attack, Undyne stabbing and swinging with her magical spear, while Alphys attacked using kinetic-energy boosting gauntlets she had just made from some metal she found on the ground.

DETERMINATION could do some weird things to a person.

Either way, Gaster dodged the blows from both monsters at once, repeatedly sidestepping and twisting his body around as he avoided the shots. He would crane his neck in one direction as if popping it, before _sliding_ backwards through the air to get out of range of a follow-up. No matter how hard the two monsters tried, they couldn't land so much as a single hit on the impossibly fast Gaster. Undyne was getting fed up, and channeled some of her DETERMINATION into a her spear, causing the tip of it to glow blue as a large ball of energy formed around it.

"That's it, we've had enough of this!"

Alphys transformed her gauntlets into a huge plasma cannon that hovered behind her as she pointed a finger, and the sight on the cannon, at Gaster, and finished Undyne's thought.

"We're gonna wreck your shit!"

"Yeah!"

The two of them simultaneously fired off their attacks, the two massive lasers that were fired carving a long path down the plain that they stood on, blasting straight through the place where the Barrier once was, and shooting straight out into the Surface, where humans mistakenly (?) believed it as a harbinger of doom from the gods, who had released the dreaded monsters from their prison.

" _ **Oh, no, my shit has been wrecked! Oh, what will I do?"**_

Alphys and Undyne recoiled in surprise as they saw confirmation of their fears. At the epicenter of their attack stood Gaster, his clothes torn and the cracks in his face barely expanded, but otherwise completely unharmed.

" _ **I must admit, that actually kind of hurt. But it would take fifty more shots like that to bring me down, and you won't catch me with so much as one more."**_

"wanna bet?"

Gaster spun around, catching sight of Sans standing behind him, one hand in the air, his gasterblasters floating at his side. Sans lowered his hand and pointed at Gaster, commanding the blasters to fire multiple beams of energy at the enigmatic being. Gaster lowered one hand, raising a forcefield from the hole in his palm, and barely blocking the massive beam that resulted from the blasters' joint attack.

"nice move, gaster. i was honestly hoping that one would bring you down. it would have made things a whole lot easier for both of us."

" _ **Well, for one of us, anyway."**_

Gaster blipped out of existence again, before teleporting at Sans and trying to land a heavy punch from one of his fabled hands. He might as well have not tried at all. Sans was out of the way so fast that Gaster didn't even see the movement.

"you should know better than to try to hit me like that, gaster. i've fought faster guys than you."

" _ **Indeed. I shall save**_ **you** _ **for last. Oh, Alphys, Undyne,**_ **you two** _ **can't dodge like that, can you?"**_

Gaster dashed at the two, who prepared for his attack, Undyne by lowering her spear and summoning up daggers of light to fire at the approaching Gaster, and Alphys by doing her best to prepare a mech suit to use in combat.

"Wow, Alphys! Just like in Anime!"

"Well, I didn't get this one from Mew Mew Kissy Cutie."

"I kinda guessed that. You have to make me one of those some time."

"No problem! That sounds great! But, um, we're kind of in danger for our lives right now."

"Oh, yeah, I kind of forgot. Wait a second, where _is_ Gaster, anyway?"

"HE IS OVER HERE, UNDYNE! I HAVE DEFEATED HIM!"

Alphys and Undyne stared in disbelief, as Papyrus stood atop Gaster's prostrate body. The scientist couldn't move, on account of being pinned to the ground by a bone that was impaling his torso and driving into the ground. Papyrus seemed extremely pleased.

" _ **D-damn it! H-how could you do this!? How? HOW!?"**_

"NYEH HEH HEH!"

" _ **Y-you think this is**_ **funny!?"**

"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

" _ **IT'S NOT as FUNNY!... as your face."**_

"COULD YOU REPEAT THAT?"

Gaster didn't repeat that. Instead, he grabbed upward, taking hold of Papyrus' thigh… shin, with one of his hands, before the hole in his hand began to glow blue as he drained the energy from the skeleton's body.

"OK, THAT HURTS, I'VE HAD ENOUGH."

Realizing that he couldn't lift the leg that was being drained, Papyrus simply lifted his other leg and stomped downward on Gaster's head, shattering the ground around him and driving the ex-scientist into the ground, hard.

Gaster was very, very peeved.


	4. Chapter 4: Still Standing

"PLEASE, I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU GOT OFF OF MY LEG!"

Papyrus just kept on stomping him. Gaster held on tightly to the skeleton's femur, draining the SOUL-powered energy inside him, but he was having trouble as Papyrus kept on doing damage. Suddenly, Pap's foot fell one more time, but it hit nothing but a goopy mess. Gaster had once again lost all material substance and sank into the ground. Papyrus fell to his knees and began breathing heavily. Sans instantly teleported over to him.

"you ok, bro?"

"YES, SANS, I'M FINE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME! I JUST NEED A SECOND TO CATCH MY BREATH…"

"are you _sure,_ pap?"

"YES, SANS. SAVE FRISK, DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME. I'LL BE FINE. YOU SAW WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO GASTER WHEN HE TRIED TO STEAL MY POWERS."

Sans smiled lovingly.

"yup. he sure had a bad time."

Papyrus beamed at the praise. Suddenly, the ground rocked with what felt like a massive earthquake.

The skelebros turned to look behind them and saw that Gaster had engaged in combat with Asgore. The massive goat king was shaking the ground with every strike, every stomp, every step, every _movement._ Gaster was dodging each blow, but it was obvious that if any of them landed, he would be in for a beating.

Asgore stomped the ground, hard, causing cracks to snake out across the earth. At first, Gaster was unimpressed, thinking that it was a kind of boast, a showing of the king's power. Ol' W. D. had seen much better. Suddenly, however, lava and flames burst out of the cracks, forcing Gaster to take a few scorching hits in order to escape. As soon as he exited the trap, he was met with Asgore's titanic fist to his face, sending him flying hundreds of yards before he landed on his feet and fired an invisible pulse of energy at the king, striking and stunning him.

Suddenly, Gaster was struck from behind by another massive punch, the strength of which rivaled that of Asgore himself. Turning, he realized that he had been hit by Alphys' newly built war machine, and that Undyne was standing atop it's chassis, spear in hand.

Gaster thrust out his palm and blasted the duo with a pulse of energy, before following it up with an unstoppable wave of scorching fire magic developed from studying Toriel and Asgore.

The smoke cleared, and Alphys was smiling.

"If you want to beat us-"

Suddenly, from behind the mech-suit, Undyne leapt high into the air, firing spears of light from the magic weapon she held and pinning Gaster to the ground. At the same time, she finished Alphys' phrase.

"You'll have to do better than that!"

Gaster realized suddenly that he was open to a follow-up attack from either of the two, not to mention from anyone else in the area. Melting into goo, he sank into the ground, avoiding any possible damage.

Gaster rose from the ground a few hundred yards from the battlefield and tried to catch his breath. He was superior to any one of them, but all of them together could give him a lot of trouble. He could feel Frisk's SOUL inside them, beating furiously, fighting against him. He knew that if he RESET, the SOUL would simply go back to before Gaster showed up, and Sans, Frisk, and possibly even Asgore would remember the day's events, and be prepared. He had to wait until the SOUL was assimilated before he could RESET and take total control of the timeline.

Gaster's thoughts were interrupted by a serene and yet furious voice from behind him.

"W. D. Gaster. You seem to have forgotten why you came here. Were you not trying to kill us seconds before now?"

Gaster spun around and shot a massive wave of fire magic at Toriel, who stood behind him. The goat woman, however, easily countered with her own burst. Gaster lifted one of his hands into the air and collected all of the darkness in the area into his palm, creating a massively powerful blast which he then hurled at Toriel.

The woman barely had time to prepare herself before the attack hit, and all she could do was cushion her impact by putting her hands out before her, catching the ball. She struggled against the attack, before she suddenly noticed a blue glow emanating from it.

The ball began to lose momentum, before being hurled entirely in the wrong direction, back at Gaster. The enigma put out his palm and sucked the energy back into it, before glaring at Sans, who simply shrugged.

"Where were we?"

" _ **I was preparing to kill you."**_

"Ah, that's right, thank you. I was preparing to kill you."

" _ **Very funny. But I think that you should expect more from me than an easy death."**_

"You used to work for my husband, correct?"

" _ **Yes, I was once the royal scientist for King Asgore."**_

"Then you should be used to getting served by me."

" _ **Ooh,**_ **savage.** _ **Yes, I recall the**_ **pies** _ **you always brought to the royal company picnics."**_

Toriel didn't reply. Gaster had kind of ruined her joke. Instead she summoned dozens of fireballs which all rotated around her in a deadly fiery ring. Gaster raised his hands and did the exact same thing. They each shot the blasts at each other skillfully, each attempting to order their fireballs to evade those of their opponent and hit their mark, but in the end all were destroyed in collisions but two, and this time, Toriel succeeded in hitting Gaster. While her ex-employee was stunned she prepared and fired a massive ball of fire. Gaster was about to dodge when he felt the SOUL inside him increase exponentially in weight… and turn blue.

Damn that Sans. Damn him straight to hell.

The massive blast of fire singed Gaster badly, but he'd been through worse. He turned and looked at Sans.

" _ **I originally planned to save you for last, but you've proven so annoying that I don't feel that I can afford to do so."**_

Gaster raised his hand, and a field of pure darkness suddenly surrounded Sans.

" _ **Tell me, Sans, have you ever tried to**_ **dodge** _ **a room shrinking and crushing you from inside?"**_

Sans' smile became a bit less genuine.

Gaster closed his fist, and the field of darkness surrounding the big-boned skeleton began to solidify and harden. An instant before it had a chance to do so, one of Sans' Gasterblasters flew at far faster than the speed of light to close it's titanic jaws around it's master to protect him.

The Darkness closed in, and a sickening crunch could be heard. Papyrus went into shock instantly, staring blankly forward, and fell to his knees. He had been just about to rejoin the fight.

A shocked Toriel rushed toward the large chunk of solid darkness that now lay on the ground and fell to her knees next to it, beating it with her fists.

"Sans! Sans, no!"

For the second time that day, although this time unbeknownst to Toriel, a blue light began shining out of the darkness, lighting up the area.


	5. Chapter 5: bad time

As Toriel beat on the block of darkness, filled with regret and grief, she failed to see the darkness melting thanks to the sheer power of the light burning from within it. Papyrus' eyes went wide.

"THAT'S RIGHT, SANS. I KNEW YOU HAD IT FROM THE BEGINNING."

Meanwhile, Toriel finally noticed the light and scrambled away from the huge chunk of darkness as it began to melt, crack, and finally explode with blue and white energy. Inside, where it once was, floated Sans, his eye burning with blue and orange light, the gasterblaster beside him having the same effect, it's eye bursting with power. Sans held his palm upward, a single blue fireball glowing within it.

"see buddy? this is why you don't screw with the gasterblasters. how many times do i have to tell ya?"

Gaster clenched his fists.

" _ **You don't intimidate me, Sans. Your power is nothing compared to the strength that**_ **I** _ **hold!"**_

The skeleton just laughed.

"sorry, gaster, but that just isn't true. so why don't you make the process a lot less painful for all of us and give up the soul now, before i have a chance to show you what it _really_ means to have a bad time."

Gaster crossed his arms, flexed his fingers, and flipped his frown, turning it into his trademark terrifying smile. Along with his facial expression, his voice and personality also seemed to change, as he went from the personality that Alphys and Sans recognized as his true self to the form he had tried to build for himself over the many years he had not existed.

" _ **Well then you had better come at me, Sans! All of you come at me**_ **now,** _ **before I get bored! I'm going to have a**_ **real** _ **good time!"**_

"OH, MY, I SURELY HOPE YOU DON'T GET _BORED,_ YOU **DIRTY BROTHER HURTER!"**

Everyone looked at Papyrus in shock. He charged Gaster in a rage, dozens of bones flying behind him, before the skeleton landed a massive punch on Gaster's chest, following up by riddling the scientist with the bones, some of which actually managed to impale Gaster.

Papyrus thrust upward with his hands, summoning a field of jagged bones underneath Gaster's feet, and the scientist was forced to fly into the air to avoid them. But before he could get out of Papyrus' range, he found himself surrounded by blue bones, and was forced to stand still in the air as the attacks flew straight through him harmlessly. But once they were gone, he realized that he was having trouble staying in the air, and, when he reached out with his mental powers, he got nothing but blue.

Gaster fell like a rock, hurtling toward the ground at hundreds of miles an hour before slamming into the spikes, which impaled him in multiple places. He just sort of lay there for a moment, looking pretty dejected, before melting into the ground and rising back out, his injuries healed almost completely.

"this is kinda weird to ask but… are you just gonna keep doing that?"

" _ **Is that even a question? You can't kill me. I can't**_ **die.** _ **It simply can't happen! In fact, I am ending this now! I'm going to kill all of you! You are all about to**_ **die!** _ **Blast the SOULS, I can just go to the surface and get more, so why do I need to preserve yours! I am ending this**_ **now!"**

Gaster raised his fabled hands, energy coursing through his palms as he prepared his SPECIAL ATTACK. All those present were on their guard. Sans, knowing he couldn't try to block anything, simply prepared to dodge. Undyne, ready as always, lifted her spear and faced the danger head-on. Alphys morphed the suit she was wearing into a massive mechanical shield and dropped it in front of her, and Papyrus lifted his hands, forming a forest of bones in front of him that nothing bigger than a gnat could fit through. Asgore simply put his hulking arms in front of his face and braced himself.

Toriel simply glared, flames coursing down her arms, around her body in rings, and out of her eye like a flaring supernova.

There wasn't really much time for any of them to think as Gaster slammed his hands into the ground, causing a massive flare of an explosion. The explosive wave rocked across the area, breaking the guard of all of the assembled monsters and forcing Sans to leap backwards absolutely as fast as he could, evading the blast by a hairsbreadth.

Meanwhile, the other monsters were pulling themselves off of the ground, as Gaster prepared part 2 of his SPECIAL ATTACK. Lifting his hands in the air once again, Gaster fired off hundreds of miniature pulses of energy, each one a fireball of darkness that whipped through the air at blinding speeds, honing in on his six foes.

Undyne leapt back to her feet and spun her spear skillfully, knocking each shot that came at her out of the air with the least possible effort and the quickest possible time, not wasting a single movement. She seemed on track to completely no-sell the attack.

Meanwhile, Alphys was making do with the two halves of the shield that she had left after the explosion bisected her creation. The shields were enhanced with boosters that allowed her to move them quickly around, and anti-gravity enhancements that made them easier to position, but she simply didn't have the skill or reaction time to block all of them, and one of them managed to slip through her defenses.

Undyne caught sight of this, and hurled her spear in the way of the deadly blast, blocking it, but leaving her temporarily unarmed and defenseless. Seeing another blast coming her way, Undyne braced herself for impact, but it never came.

Alphys, seeing her friend in danger on account of saving her life, decided to return the favor, and had thrown _her_ shields in the path of Gaster's attacks, saving the fish warrior.

Unfortunately for both of them, there were more blasts coming. Undyne did her best to twist out of the way, but she took several hits, each one shocking her with dark electricity, and paralyzing her nerves. Alphys suffered the same fate, and fell to her knees. Gaster noted the defeat of two of his enemies with satisfaction.

And decided to finish the job. Pointing two fingers in the direction of the scientist and her soldier partner, Gaster fired two beams. The first was a solid, powerful energy beam that whizzed stragight through the air, directly at Undyne. The second was a thinner, weaker, but quicker laser, which he swung like a ludicrously long sword to strike Alphys.

Undyne took her beam directly to the torso, impaling her and leaving her slowly breathing, a bit of dust flitting like smoke from her mouth with every exhale, and from the wound in her chest with every inhale.

She fell to her knees.

Normally, Alphys would have been beside herself with rage, fear, and worry, but in this case, she was feeling a bit too busy being almost literally beside herself, as in, bisected. Gaster's laser had fallen diagonally down her torso, leaving a deep slice from her left shoulder to the right of her waist, from which dust slowly floated, as if someone had dusted off an old book. Alphys clenched her fists and hissed out loud, before falling to her knees as well. Her glasses fell off of her face as she concentrated, revealing a bright yellow pupil.

She had set the act in motion. She only hoped she would live to see it's fulfillment. She glanced at Undyne, who seemed to be in worse shape than she was. She prayed for Undyne's survival, before falling unconscious. Unbeknownst to Gaster, several small wires wrapped around both Alphys and Undyne, sucking a tiny bit of the dust from their bodies, as well as a tiny bit of their magic.

Meanwhile, ASGORE was doing his best to tank the blasts that came his way. Each and every one hurt, each and every one forced him to take a step back, but he just kept holding his arms in front of his face and holding on to his immense willpower and DETERMINATION. But before much time had passed, the effects of the blasts changed, and drastically. Now, each blast numbed his arms more, and each one forced him to lower his defense one more little bit, and he couldn't keep holding on.

His superbly muscled body could only take so much. After a few more seconds of pummeling, Asgore fell to his knees, completely paralyzed. Gaster was of a mind to simply leave the great ASGORE to die on the ground, simply for the sake of dramatic irony, but decided he wasn't leaving any loose ends.

Gaster fired a single energized ball of darkness, this one hitting Asgore directly in the chest, exploding when it did so. The blast sent the king of the monsters flying backward into a boulder, shattering the massive rock and sending him collapsing onto the ground, massive wounds and lacerations, not to mention burns, covering much of his furry, muscular body. He fell to the ground, and the dust exploded in every direction when he did so.

He didn't have much time. His DETERMINATION was just barely holding him together. The tiny wires flitted from the ground once again, taking samples of ASGORE'S body and magic. This time, they seemed quite a bit more… urgent.

Toriel, meanwhile, was taking a more, er, _aggressive_ path to evading the blasts. As they say, a good offence is the best defense. Toriel fired scores of fireballs from her hands, each one meeting a single blast from Gaster and cancelling it out. Gaster fired a massive barrage of them, and Toriel simply countered with a flamethrower that extinguished them all in an instant. Gaster fired them off in a huge burst, all at once, and Toriel hurled an extra-powerful fireball that countered Gaster's attack. And slowly, but surely, calmly, but inorexibly, Toriel was walking forward. Gaster was getting angrier. Each shot came quicker, harder, stronger. Toriel was having trouble keeping up. Suddenly, Gaster twisted one of his blasts in an unexpected direction, keeping it away from the fireball that had been intended to destroy it, and shocking Toriel in the right arm, stunning it.

After that, it was over quickly. Toriel took one hit after another, until she fell to the ground, paralyzed herself. Gaster smiled and decided to add a taste of irony to the Queen's demise, raising his hand and impaling her multiple times with black spines approximating Sans' bones. The wires snaked out of the ground and took samples from Toriel as well.

Meanwhile, the big boned skeleton from which Gaster had acquired the bone ability was dodging every shot that came his way. He snaked in and out of them, moving faster and faster, much to quick for either Gaster or anyone else on the field to track. Sans pulled a bone out of the ground and spun it, destroying a couple of the bolts, before shooting it in Gaster's direction, destroying one more and forcing the ex-scientist to sidestep to avoid it.

Sans was sweating.

With each shot that he dodged, the skeleton was getting more and more tired, and with each second, the bolts got closer and closer to hitting their mark. More than once, one of Sans' gasterblasters felt the need to interfere and take the bullet for their master, which Sans found cardinally annoying, but secretly appreciated.

Gaster saw Sans slowing down, and grinned insanely. He realized he didn't _need_ to stun the pun-loving skeleton.

Meanwhile, Papyrus was dodging the blasts himself, wildly swinging first in one direction, then in another, then spinning a bone to deflect some blasts, then creating a wall of bones from the ground to block more of them. Although one simply watching would likely see nothing more than an insanely lucky idiot, Gaster and Sans both recognized that Papyrus was getting slowly closer and closer to having the one who speaks in hands in melee range, and Gaster didn't like it.

However, as it turned out, the scientist didn't need to worry about it, as his very next more would solve the problem. Shifting his focus back to Sans, he pointed a single finger at the skeleton, took aim, and fired, a bolt of black plasma rippling out of his finger and tearing through the air only to outpace the completely exhausted Sans and blast a hole directly through his chest, leaving a massive circular wound through the skeleton's ribs and spine, and virtually splitting him in half.

Sans fell to the ground, and began to turn to dust.

*But it refused.

Sans struggled. He fought. He was filled with DETERMINATION. And he hung on. He might have only had a fraction of one percent of one HP, but he was still alive. The wires strung themselves out of the ground and took samples from Sans, as well. He noticed, but was too busy not dying to pay much attention.

Papyrus stumbled and tripped as he saw what had happened to his brother, before being unceremoniously pumped full of Gaster's paralyzing shots, dropping him unconscious to the ground, where Gaster leapt into the air and stomped on his head repeatedly in rage.

" _ **As I said. I**_ **win.** _ **And in a few moments, those of you that are still living will be dead, I will have the SOULS, and I can't even**_ **imagine** _ **a way this could turn out better!"**_

"Perhaps…"

Gaster heard a mechanical voice echo out from the sky, it's heavy British accent giving it a distinctly _glamorous_ tone.

"You could try a timeline in which I do not exist!"


	6. Chapter 6: Death By Glamour

Gaster scowled and looked upward. He'd never personally met the owner of that voice, but he'd heard it enough times to know full well who it belonged to. Squinting his corrupted eyes, he tried to catch sight of what was up there, but he couldn't quite see. Suddenly, he saw a flash, a sudden image of purple, and then a blur, a streak, and two feet impacting his face at tens of thousands of miles per hour.

Mettaton had delivered a hypersonic foot dive to Gaster's face from _outside the underground,_ hitting him so hard that the scientist was buried hundreds of feet below the ground.

Death by Glamour was playing, quite loudly, in fact.

Turning goopy and intangible, Gaster floated back out of the ground, his face scratched and bruised, and wearing a _very_ upset expression. However, when he actually paid attention to what he was looking at, he almost gasped in surprise. He was shocked. He was dumbfounded.

In short, he was flabbergastered.

Mettaton, rather than the rather standard humanoid form Gaster was used to, was in a completely different body shape. One of his arms tapered into an arm cannon instead of a standard hand, the heart on his stomach that concealed his SOUL was upside down, and colored yellow rather than red, his hair stuck out wildly to the right as if he was some kind of Super Saiyan, and a single eye flashed out with power from the shadow from his hair.

The biggest, and most notable difference, however, were the massive rainbow-colored wings that sprouted from either side of his back, lighting up the entire area.

"Ah, how curious, darling! You expected Mettaton EX, but it was me, NEO!"

Needless to say, Gaster didn't pick up on the joke. He hadn't spent _quiiiiite_ as much time on UnderNet as Alphys, and, by extension, Mettaton had.

" _ **I do hope you are fully aware of the fact that your NEO form is a**_ **joke.** _ **It's defenses aren't worth the blueprints they were drawn on, and sure, your attacks could wreck continents, but compared to me? Every second, my hold on Frisk's SOUL grows stronger, and so do I. You are**_ **nothing.** _ **Also, where did the rainbows come from?"**_

"Well, incidentally, Alphys didn't exactly want to finish building me as a human eradication device, so… well, let's just say I improved upon it. I decided it was too colorless for me, so the wings were the first things to be redesigned. Also, I may have added a bit more to the thrusters than was necessary in order to defeat you, but who needs durability with speed like this?"

Suddenly, Mettaton flashed forward at a shocked Gaster. He had trouble believing it, but Mettaton was nearly half as fast as Sans. He didn't have much time to meditate on this, as the robot slammed him with a karate-chop to the throat, breaking his neck and forcing him to retreat and regenerate.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I figure this would be a good time to use this."

Mettaton pulled a button out of his… torso and pressed it. Suddenly, out from underneath the prostrate bodies of the six monsters that had tried to fight Gaster before, healing capsules built using Alphys' technopathy burst out of the ground and enveloped her wounded friends. The wires from before had evidently been released to take samples to more efficiently heal them.

"Sweet dreams, darlings! I look forward to meeting you again after this Gaster is taught that you can't have a monochrome color scheme and get away with it around here."

" _ **Really? That's the only thing you're upset about? That I have a**_ **monochrome color scheme?** _ **You activated your NEO form because you were**_ **mildly annoyed** _ **that I was too**_ **boring** _ **for you?"**_

"Oh no, darling, trust me, that isn't the only thing I'm upset about. And believe me-"

Mettaton turned his head, revealing a flashing eye and a furious scowl to compliment the impossibly deep angle his eye was tilted at.

"I'm absolutely _livid."_

Leveling his arm cannon at Gaster, he fired, wiping out an area the equivalent size of a city block before rushing into the smoke the explosion had caused and grabbing the scientist, doing a massive midair roll before smashing himself and Gaster into the ground, leaving a massive crater and leaping back into the air to batter the downed scientist with a few more shots from his arm cannon, and then landing back on the ground.

"Are you satisfied, doctor? I would hate to have to cause you more pain. So just return the SOUL and we'll both be fine."

" _ **Return the SOUL? Are you joking?"**_

Gaster was climbing out of the crater he had inadvertently created, coughing as he did so.

" _ **Every moment, my control over the SOUL grows. It is at 73% now. It will be at 100% before long. And then, I will have the SAVE and LOAD and RESET. And I will be a**_ **god."**

"AAnnd… you want me to _wait?"_

" _ **No, you worthless fool. I am saying that I am not about to surrender!"**_

"Well… I fail to see how this is going to help you, darling. In fact, it seems like it's just illustrating my point. You gained control of the SOUL over two hours ago, and you are just now at 73%."

" _ **7**_ **4."**

"That's besides the point. The point is, what is to keep me from simply obliterating you before you have the chance to achieve 100%?"

" _ **The fact that I am infinitely superior to you."**_

"Ah, yes. I always forget that one. But here is the thing… what?"

Mettaton again rushed at Gaster, stopping inches in front of him and delivering a high-kick so high, in fact, that his thigh plate actually hit his face, and sending Gaster flying straight upward. He flew up toward the scientist and repeated the move, upside down this time. Gaster hurled into the ground and found himself in yet another crater.

Before he had a chance to recover, Mettaton dove downward once again, his feet and legs straight below him as if he was in a coffin as he smashed into Gaster, bounced back into the air, and then smashed downward again. This time, he failed to build up the momentum for another bounce, so he gave himself the momentum, firing an arm cannon blast directly into the enigma below him and letting the recoil throw him into the air for another foot dive.

When he landed there, however, he found that he had landed directly on the rock, rather than his target, which had apparently teleported away. He wiped his hand along his forehead and looked around, waiting for Gaster to show himself, when he was suddenly gripped from behind.

" _ **Gotcha bitch!"**_

"I must object to you referring to me as that."

" _ **Oh, sorry. Wait, why would I apologize when I'm about to**_ **KILL YOU!"**

"W-why you! Don't you dare mock Undyne!"

" _ **What, are you interested in your best friend's girlfriend."**_

"Wait, _what?_ Are you serious? _No!_ I'm completely… never mind. What does matter is _this!"_

Gaster, during their conversation, had been trying and failing to drain Mettaton's power, something he was evidently unable to do to a robot. So Mettaton simply countered by letting off a massive surge of yellow electricity that fried Gaster so badly that he was forced to let go.

"I'm sorry, darling, but things like that simply can't be allowed to fly around here."

Mettaton turned his heel, but didn't flee. Instead, he simply twisted around fabulously before blasting Gaster with a full-power shot from his arm cannon that sent him flying.

"Don't worry, beautiful! I promise I'll make your last living moments _absolutely beautiful!"_

Gaster struggled to his feet, a look of rage incarnate on his strange, corrupted face.

" _ **Eighty… Percent..."**_

Mettaton raised an eyebrow. This was getting better and better every second. Death by Glamour stopped playing from the speakers in Mettaton's chest from which it had been blaring the whole fight, and Power of NEO began exploding from the same speakers. Mettaton was getting serious.


	7. Chapter 7: Death Of Glamour

Mettaton flew at Gaster, who was just getting fully to his feet, and fired off a massive blast from his arm cannon, sending the ex-scientist flying through the air. The robot flew past Gaster, moving even faster than he had been launched, before stopping behind him and landing a massive kick to his back.

"You see, darling? Eighty, ten, one, one hundred, four, twenty, whatever. I'm still more glamorous, more beautiful, and a _much_ better dancer."

Mettaton moved so quickly in front of Gaster, striking his foe's face with a roundhouse kick.

"Oh, yes. I'm also stronger. _Vastly stronger,_ Gaster. Don't forget. I am Dr. Alphys' ultimate creation. I will not fail so easily."

Gaster found the mental capacity to find it curious for just a moment that Mettaton evidently didn't know how to pronounce Alphys' name, saying it like "Alfees" as opposed to the correct pronunciation. However, he didn't have much time to deliberate on this, as Mettaton landed another ludicrously over-the-top kick to Gaster's chin, sending him flying.

" _ **Dr. Alphys has nothing to offer that can compare to my mind. Sure, she may be a bit more intelligent than the**_ **average monster,** _ **but I am**_ **orders of magnitude** _ **above her in all but**_ **weeaboo-** _ **ism."**_

Mettaton's face scrunched up in a visage of indescribable rage. He and Alphys didn't always see eye-to-eye, but he still saw her as his best friend, almost as a mother. He wasn't about to let this freak say such things about her.

" _You_ …! I'll teach you to speak about Alphys like that!"

Mettaton threw his right hand up in the air at a 45 degree angle to his body, his equivalent wing doing the same, seeming to stiffen and act almost like a new appendage, following the arm's every movement.

Mettaton dashed forward at Gaster and swung a kick, which the scientist seemed to evade easily. But before Mettaton passed him, he allowed the momentum of the kick to flip him in half and allowed his wing, straight, hard, and sharp, to flash through Gaster's waist.

When Mettaton landed, right-side-up, behind Gaster, he didn't even look back, simply folding up his wings, putting a hand on his hip, and strutting away, shifting his weight back and forth in a way that would have seemed seductive had he not just moments before been in a massive fight with the man who he now considered his greatest enemy.

"Power of NEO" ceased playing, and "Death by Glamour" began again.

Behind him, Gaster let out a slow groan and release of air from his lungs, as his upper body slowly slid off of his lower body, his legs cut in half right below the hip. As he fell to the ground, the two severed limbs melted into nothing but black slag, and his upper body squished into the ground, giving him the impression of being some kind of dark-slime that had grown an upper body.

Under his breath, Gaster let out a whisper.

" _ **Eighty… five… percent."**_

The scientist began to straighten up, and fired an invisible pulse in Mettaton's direction, a blast which was easily deflected. No matter, it was only to get his attention anyway.

"Is that all, doctor?"

" _ **Oh, of course not, Mettaton. But first, I have a question to ask you."**_

"Yes?"

" _ **Who needs legs…"**_

The scientist began to float off of the ground, a mysterious black liquid dripping out of the upper half of his bisected body.

" _ **With hands like these?"**_

Mettaton groaned. He still remembered that moment, and while it was, in hindsight, one of the greatest moments of his life, he wasn't exactly proud of being defeated so easily by Frisk. They hadn't even taken a hit.

Although, in hindsight, he supposed that had been a good thing.

"Please, Gaster, it's bad enough you stole everyone's magic. But taking my _fabulous_ quotes? That's simply low."

" _ **Oh, poor, poor Mettaton. I don't need my waist to survive. But I think you do, so… oh, one more thing."**_

"Yeeeeesss?"

" _ **Eighty seven."**_

Gaster suddenly sank into the ground reappearing about twenty feet from Mettaton, before sticking his palms into the air. His arms appeared, out-of nowhere, to dissolve, leaving him with floating hands that periodically floated around him in a circle.

Now, notably, Gaster's main body was nothing but a torso and a head, with a couple of cute little orbiting hands.

That, of course, was not at all what Mettaton NEO was thinking. He was thinking that that bastard was making fun of his loss to Frisk, and in NEO form, he couldn't deal with all that bull. So he attacked.

Charging at Gaster with all of his force, Mettaton threw a massive punch that would have very likely blown off Gaster's head, had it hit.

It didn't.

Gaster shifted only a few inches to the side and dodge, and when Mettaton spun around and charged back in the other direction, the scientist was ready. As the Human Eradication Device readied a deadly kick, Gaster moved his left hand into position, hovering a foot or so above, and about two feet behind his head.

He threw the punch right before Mettaton was about to throw his kick, and hit the robot mere millimeters below the case holding his only natural body part. His SOUL.

Mettaton was instantly sheared in half by the force of the attack, his lower waist, legs, and about half of the SOUL casing flying in one direction, his upper body and his now badly damaged SOUL flying in another.

Mettaton's upper body landed on the ground, and he attempted to lift himself off the ground, but failed and fell again. His wings flickered twice before going out altogether.

"D-damn it! Y-you! _GIVE FRISK'S SOUL BACK!"_

Gaster calmly floated over to Mettaton, his hands behind his back.

" _ **Ah, so now you've gone from using force to merely**_ **ordering** _ **me to obey you. Strange. It seems that you have quite a bit less authority in this matter than you did a few minutes ago. Ninety."**_

"I-I suppose I _should_ have worked on the d-defenses a bit more after all."

Gaster moved a bit closer, and Mettaton exploded in rage once again, twisting backwards to face toward the scientist and blasting him almost point-blank with his arm-cannon, the blast so powerful that it obscured Mettaton's vision for almost twenty seconds.

Gaster didn't even flinch.

Inside their healing capsules, the monsters had just regained consciousness, and watched with glee as Mettaton stomped Gaster. This sudden turn of events shocked all of them. All but one. Alphys wasn't shocked. She was greif-stricken. Floored. In disbelief, denial, and horror.

As she beat on the inside of her capsule, attempting to break out and go to the side of her best friend, Mettaton smiled.

"Alphys… I don't know if you can hear me, darling… I don't know if any of you can. But, well… Please… take care of Blooky for me, will you? Oh, and Papyrus? Stay glamorous, okay, darling. One… more… thing… Gaster… please…"

The scientist leaned in closely. He knew what Mettaton was about to ask. "Please, spare Alphys," "Please, don't hurt Papyrus," "Please, leave Napstablook out of this." He laughed. He didn't intend on doing any of those things.

" _ **Yes, Mettaton?"**_

"Please… burn in hell."

At that, his exposed gray SOUL, cracked so badly, exploded into pieces. His flashing eye went dark, and he smiled one more time as the life faded from his robotic body.

Gaster heard a crash behind him.

Turning, he saw Alphys' pod blown apart by an attack from inside. She had tears in her eyes. She was absolely floored by Mettaton's death. Greif-stricken. In disbelief, denial, and horror.

And rage.

Infinite, all-consuming rage.

Alphys stuck her arm straight out to the side of her body, holding it there like a plank.

* * *

In the void, darkness all around. Four buttons were floating, the only thing that existed. FIGHT, the button of death.  
ACT, the button of intelligence.  
ITEM, the button of wealth.  
And MERCY, the button of life.

Suddenly, in the world of those four buttons, a new object suddenly appeared, puzzling the metaphysical beings that existed there. This new object, yellow and scaly, seemed to have five small line-shaped objects extending from it.

One of the beings that existed there metaphorically scratched it's metaphorical head, and then remembered. It was sure. This was a hand. The hand wrapped around the MERCY button, filling it with something approximating happiness. It hadn't seen anyone choose MERCY in some time. Usually, though, they weren't so direct about it. They could usually choose their button simply by thinking about it. There was no need to physically touch it.

The grip on the button tightened, and the button let out a sharp squeal of fear.

It tightened again, and cracks formed along the button.

It tightened more and more, and the cracks grew in size, depth, and number.

The button shattered. It shattered into a million little pieces.

* * *

Alphys looked up, facing Gaster once again.

The white light shining from the lens of her glasses was almost blinding, and she charged Gaster, all of her power put behind a blow from a mountain of metal and electronics, every weapon she could dream up bristling from the wave of death she intended to lower upon the scientist.

Gaster just stood there.

" _ **Please, my dear doctor Alphys, don't make a decision you are going to regret."**_

"I already did! I didn't kill you the _first time we met!"_

" _ **Now you're just living in a fantasy. You could**_ **never** _ **kill me."**_

Alphys was mere feet away, but time seemed to slow as she spoke.

"Let's see."

The collision was cataclysmic, and Alphys fell to her knees at Mettaton's body, lowering her head. She was completely drained, but Gaster had been wiped off the map.

" _ **Eh. That was probably the hardest hit I've taken today."**_

Alphys' eyes suddenly widened to almost impossible proportions. She couldn't move, couldn't think, and certainly couldn't FIGHT.

Gaster, completely healed, including his arms and legs, strolled casually past her, his hands behind his back. As he passed her by, he leaned in close to her face and whispered.

" _ **Ninety three."**_


	8. Chapter 8: When the Mighty Fall

Sans stepped out of his capsule, which had opened simultaneously with all the others, and looked on with sadness as he saw Alphys' defeat and Mettaton's death play out before him. He realized that he and the other monsters were way out of their leagues, and that anything other than surrender and retreat would result in his inevitable death.

His eye exploded in a flash of blue as he summoned several gasterblasters behind him.

" _ **What the hell?"**_

"huh? what are you talking about?"

" _ **Where did your SOUL go?"**_

"uh, huh? what?"

Meanwhile, behind Sans, the other monsters all realized that the human SOULS inside them had somehow disappeared. They were back to normal, which pretty much meant they were screwed.

"THIS IS… ODD! BUT DON'T WORRY, MY FRIENDS! SANS AND I ARE STILL TOO STRONG TO BEAT THIS CREEP!"

"Papyrus… I don't think… He's just… too strong… even all of us together… me, you, Sans, ASGORE, TORIEL… we can't win."

"s-she's right, pap. without the SOULS…"

"We do not have a chance? I, personally, do not care! I will not let this murderer have my child!"

" _ **I'm sorry, Toriel, but you really cannot defeat me, with or without the SOULS. By the way…**_ **ninety seven."**

All those present cringed in realizing how close it was to being completely over. One Gaster reached 100%, not only would Frisk die, but Gaster would gain a SAVE, LOAD, and RESET. He would be unstoppable.

"Golly, that's a close one, huh? Well, I sure am glad I got here on time!"

Gaster stepped backward in surprise. Standing in front of him, with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, was none other than Flowey the Flower.

" _ **Y-you!"**_

"Howdy! I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower! But I guess you know that already, huh!"

" _ **Why are you**_ **here?** _ **You want the same thing I do! Absolute destruction!"**_

"Not of _me,_ silly! In fact, to tell the truth, the only thing I want to absolutely destroy… is _you."_

" _ **I am at 98 percent. If you feel that you can somehow counter**_ **that,** _ **I would like to see your reasoning."**_

"My reasoning? Well, 98 or not, you aren't about to defeat a GOD!"

Gaster shivered.

"Yup, that's right! I have the human SOULS! And with all six of them, I can DESTROY you! I'll TEAR YOU APART! And once _you're_ dead, I'll take Frisk's SOUL, and have ALL OF THEM! I will be invincible, immortal, eternal, infinite, unstoppable, OMNIPOTENT! And do you want to hear the best part? There is absolutely NOTHING you can do about it! I have the SOULS already! And with them… I will finally WIN!"

" _ **NINETY NINE!"**_

"ONE, GOD DAMN HUNDRED!"

Flowey suddenly exploded in light and power as the six human SOULS activated within him. Everything was dark, darker, yet darker.

Gaster didn't actually like it, though. It was kind of ominous. A slow sound could be heard. Like a drumbeat from far away.

No.

Not a drumbeat.

A heartbeat.

Gaster spun around and saw… nothing. In all his days in the void, nothing had ever been this dark. He couldn't see anything.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Suddenly, the light returned to the universe. Gaster gasped. Standing, or rather, _growing_ before him, was a monstrosity like none he had ever seen. Like none that _anyone_ had ever seen. Like, I'm not even gonna try to describe it, just Google Photoshop Flowey.

"HOWDY! Are you ready?"

" _ **Absolutely. I should be at one hundred by now…"**_

"Not really! Time is frozen! You're stuck at ninety nine! Not that it matters! Even if you had one hundred percent, my DETERMINATION still trumps yours!"

FILE THREE SAVED.

FIGHT

Gaster fired a blast at Flowey, who let out a high-pitched squeal.

"OOH!"

2 damage!

" _ **Oh. That isn't good."**_

"I sure hope not! If it was, I might be a little scared! Oh, wait! No I wouldn't be! Because I. Am. Not. Afraid. Of. YOU!"

Gaster floated into the air and dodged a vine that shot in his direction.

" _ **Nice try, but I won't fall that easily!"**_

"I'm just getting started!"

Flowey shot dozens of bullets at Gaster, who either avoided or deflected most of them, but took a few hits.

FIGHT

He fired another shot at Flowey, who let out his high-pitched groan again.

2 damage!

Gaster dodged a bomb that fell at him from above, and then disappeared and teleported away to dodge some others.

However, when he arrived at his destination, he found himself to be in exactly the same position he was before.

" _ **W-what?"**_

"Oh, sorry about that! But I am all that exists now! You can't teleport away from _everything,_ now can you?"

" _ **Oh, boy. Wonderful."**_

"I know, right!"

Flowey took advantage of the hit that Gaster had taken by the bombs and fired vines at him, gripping the ex-scientist by the waist, and holding him still while a ring of bullets circled around him and hit him.

ACT

Gaster's hands glowed as the wounds on his body began to heal. Unfortunately for him, a warning alarm was blaring loudly, and the face on Flowey's screen morphed into a light blue SOUL.

Suddenly, all around him, dozens of knives appeared, spinning wildly. He avoided them, taking minor scratches as he moved, until an ACT symbol suddenly appeared. He rushed for it, and waited for the relief of healing. But rather than transforming into bandages and healing him, the knives simply all pointed in his direction and fired at him suddenly, multi-implaing him.

FIGHT

Gaster summoned up a ball of dark fire and shot it at Flowey, who seemed prepared to block it easily. However, _before_ it hit him, he let out a terrified squeak and took the hit.

14 damage!

" _ **Aha! That seems more efficient than what came before it!"**_

"You want to _be like that,_ Gaster? Well golly, I don't think I can stand for it! Why don't you just do something productive-"

Flowey fired a massive battery of vines, bombs, and bullets at Gaster.

"AND DIE!"


	9. Chapter 9: Your Best Nightmare

" _ **Did you honestly think that that would bring me down?"**_

"Not at all! But if you really want to know the truth… I don't think you'll really last much longer."

Flowey launched a number of vines at Gaster. The enigmatic being dodged several of them, but the second-to-last caught him by the arm, and the final strike hit him in the torso, slamming him against a wall.

Gaster unattached his arm and pulled out of it, before turning to goop and sinking under the ground. Moments later, a massive volley of Flowey's bullets burst out of the same ground, forcing Gaster to the surface.

" _ **Once I have the SOULS, I will**_ **spare you.** _ **Assuming, of course, that you simply hand them over now."**_

"For one thing, it takes a guy who doesn't have much self-confidence to try to end a fight with a compromise like that. For another, no. And for another, what is _wrong_ with you!"

" _ **What do you mean?"**_

"It's like you said before. You don't want anything but ABSOLUTE DESTRUCTION. Why? I don't even want that. I mean, sure, being a GOD is great, and I'd probably absolutely destroy more than once… but then I'd LOAD and fix it. You want to _keep_ it that way! You sicko!"

Flowey opened his massive maw and light began glowing from it.

FILE 2 SAVED.

The monstrosity fired a laser from his mouth, which Gaster teleported to avoid, before firing a massive volley of dark bones at Flowey, who tanked them.

1 damage!

1 damage!

1 damage!

1 damage!

1 damage!

1 damage!

"So? What do you have to say to that?... Boy! It sure DOES feel great to have a SOUL… but no limbs… no body… too bad. I need MORE! I'll take Frisk's SOUL and become a GOD! But more importantly, I'll have my body back."

" _ **Is that what you want? If you give me the SOULS now, I'll give you one when I'm done! You can have a body AND power! In fact, I'll give you**_ **seven** _ **SOULS once I have the rest! You can be a GOD!"**_

"In a world of gods, the demigod is naught but a mortal. I will be the GREATEST. I'm looking forward to tearing you limb from limb, over and over again… actually, NO. I'm only gonna do it once, but I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of it! **AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"**

Flowey's laugh made Gaster cringe, as the WARNING alarm went off again, heralding the arrival of the orange SOUL, the SOUL of Bravery.

Gaster spun around and fired an invisible pulse of energy, blowing a massive gloved fist out of the air before it could crash into him. He took a hit from another, however, which sent him flying.

Turning to see another behind him, he _almost_ reacted fast enough to avoid being flicked in the face, which spun him around upside down just in time to get punched in the face by yet _another_ fist. He turned into goop to avoid several more, but was stopped from escaping by doing so by two more gloves that caught him inside them and clenched inward, crushing and condensing him into a congealed mass that quite resembled some twisted black Amalgamate.

Reforming himself, he rushed for the ACT button, and, although he was sidetracked by several more punches and a backhanded slap, he managed to reach it. Although he had an idea by now that they wouldn't heal him, it did slow them down, which gave him some time to heal himself.

A few seconds later, the gloves, to his surprise, did indeed turn green and reach out to him with open hands. When he touched them, however, he found himself wracked with extreme pain, rather than the relief of healing. Suddenly, the gloves turned orange and rushed at him, and did plenty of damage before he rushed through them and launched a fireball at Flowey.

13 damage!

Flowey cringed as the orange SOUL disappeared, replaced by his own twisted and horrifying face.

"Howdy! How'd ya like the orange SOUL! He's a real pal, not afraid of anything! Brave, too! He was the first to suggest that they work with me this time. Anyway, what's your answer? Why do you want destruction? I thought you were a scientist. Scientists aren't usually IDIOTS, and yet you clearly are? Did you knock your head as a baby?"

" _ **In fact, I did not. Do you see this place, ASRIEL? Do you see what it is? Yes, ASRIEL, this is the place known to you and your kind as the VOID."**_

"I _know_ where I _brought_ you, Gaster."

The enigma ignored the comment.

" _ **I have been trapped here for a period that exceeds the concept of time. In other words, a very long time, in your language. Not eternity, perhaps, but still greater than the concept of time can measure. Either way, while I have been here, I have seen the timelines. ALL OF THEM. In**_ **every last one,** _ **there is evil. There is death, and sickness, and despair. There is nothing that can be done to change that. There are no**_ **good** _ **timelines. There are plenty of**_ **bad** _ **timelines, depending on your perspective. But the fact is, there are**_ **no** _ **good ones. Some are better than others…"**_

He stopped his monologue in time to avoid a warhead fired by Flowey, before flying upward at high speeds to dodge a sudden flash of bullets fired in a circle from beneath.

" _ **So you see, I honestly couldn't find any reason to keep the timelines around. But that, of course, isn't a reason to exert the effort to**_ **destroy** _ **them, and so I just stuck around. I slowly saved my DETERMINATION. I got it from every source I could find. And then it happened. When I had enough of it, even though I had neither body nor SOUL, I could feel. Please, don't ask why, I'm planning on doing research about it later. I have a small fraction of human DNA, simply a genetic tick, I believe. We shared a common ancestor, you know, humans and monsters. We all came, originally, from one being, which seemed much more a monster than a human. I don't know where**_ **it** _ **came from… but I'm getting off-topic. The fact is, I could FEEL. But not much. All I could feel, in fact, was HATRED. Hatred for the timeline that had forgotten me. Hatred for the scientist that had let me fall and taken my place! Hatred for the BASTARD who made my life as a royal scientist HELL! HATRED FOR THE WORLD THAT SCORNED THE NAME OF W. D. GASTER!"**_

"Huh. That's interesting… so you don't care… but you also thirst for revenge with every fiber of your being? Is it just me, or does that not make sense?"

FILE 2 LOADED.

Gaster dodged the laser that was firing at his face, and answered, having remembered the events before the LOAD perfectly.

" _ **Isn't your motivation exactly the same?"**_

"I want revenge, but I don't hate anything. I've gone beyond that. But I am RAPIDLY COMING BACK!"

FILE 2 LOADED

Gaster dodged.

FILE 2 LOADED

Gaster dodged.

FILE 2 LOADED

Gaster dodged.

FILE 3 LOADED.

Gaster failed to avoid the vines that snaked from the ground and twisted around him, trapping him.

FILE 4 LOADED.

Flowey's HP had returned to 100%.

"Besides. I WANT to feel again… it's what I've always wanted."

Gaster burst from the vines and launched three fireballs at Flowey.

12 damage!

11 damage!

10 damage!

"That's not going to WORK anymore!"

" _ **Will THIS?"**_

Gaster summoned up a massive spear, better described as a harpoon, and hurled it at Flowey, impaling one of his massive supporting vines and pinning it to a… nothing behind him.

The VOID was a weird place.

25 damage!

"Wowie, owie! That did hurt! Two hundred and fifty more, and you might do some damage!"

FILE 4 LOADED.

"Oops. Two fifty-one."

" _ **DAMN YOU!"**_

"Eh."

WARNING!

BLUE SOUL INBOUND!


	10. Chapter 10: Lesser of Two Evils

Gaster dove to the right to avoid being stomped by a massive flying ballet shoe. He looked around for a place to avoid the other inbound shoes, but found himself hemmed in by a massive and seemingly infinite plane of the shoes.

Flowey seemed unbeatable, even without his ability to LOAD, but Gaster thought he had an idea. But in order to put this plan into action, he would need to survive this attack, which he didn't seem to be on course toward doing as he was smashed between two of the shoes, and thrown into the stars, which exploded on impact, throwing him back into another shoe.

Thrusting his hands outward, Gaster created a forcefield, blocking the shoe from doing damage, before blowing it out of the air with one of his signature energy blasts. Charging energy, Gaster's "palms" glowed blue, along with the cracks on his face. Suddenly, Gaster once again thrusted his hands to his sides, throwing the shoes telekinetically away using Sans' magic.

"Like fighting trashbags all over again. Except _this time,_ I'm infinitely stronger than before! I'm a GOD! I'll crush you!"

The shoes flew back at Gaster, who flitted gracefully between them, before charging at the ACT button which had suddenly appeared. When the shoes slowed, Gaster took the time to heal before they turned to music notes and exploded in a sound which to Flowey was beautiful music. To Gaster, however, the sound was ear piercing, and black goop leaked from his pierced ears.

" _ **I think that one is the worst by far."**_

"AAaaaww! It's too bad I can only use them once each before the SOULS get tired… but the next one's a doozy! You'll have to wait, though, 'cause ol' Flowey's got a surprise for YOU too!"

The air trembled, the earth shook, and the void fell into itself. The entire universe was heaving under the incredible power of Photoshop Flowey. The tremendous beast staggered to his "feet," two massive vines the size of redwood trees, each studded with thorns and with titanic claws at their bottoms. Flowey suddenly leaped forward, slamming downward with one of his enormous paws. They could qualify as arms at this point, I suppose. Either way, Gaster was splattered into goop, and was forced to retreat in order to reform.

FILE 2 LOADED

A massive laser fired at Gaster, a laser he failed to avoid. The blast hit him and blasted him into an almost molecular state, but he regenerated.

"Impressive! Even with me mobile, and even after taking that hit, you're still kickin'! Wow! You're stronger than I expected! Oh, look down, by the way."

Gaster looked to his feet and saw a massive number of warheads pointing out of the ground. He attempted, and failed, to avoid them as they went off in harmony, mushroom clouds and the shockwaves that followed enveloping Gaster.

"It would've been boring if you hadn't seen what hitcha!"

" _ **Why are you doing this? Do you expect thanks? Recognition? A rightful kingdom? Do you expect them to worship you as a god?"**_

"I don't expect anything, Gaster. I'm in this for three reasons! First off, I want power! I want to be a GOD! And until you DIE, I'll always have a pitiful little contender on my hands! I'd have to LOAD every few days just to keep from getting killed! And I'd never get anything done that way."

Flowey whipped a titanic vine at Gaster, who leaped over it in order to dodge, only to be hit by a volley of star-shaped bullets, as well as regular bullets. He took an instant to heal a few HP, before firing off another fireball.

9 damage!

"I told you that's not going to WORK! Where is that DETERMINATION coming from? How do you have so much? You're taking hits better than Frisk did when _they_ were fighting me! Oh, wait. You're getting it from _them,_ aren't you. Seeing you take their SOUL after such a cheap shot… it PISSES ME OFF!"

Flowey brought down a tendril in a massive arc, and Gaster turned to goop to avoid it. By the time he reached the surface of the ground again, the WARNING alarm was blaring in his ears. The SOUL'S power created two massive books on either side of Gaster. Words flew from either side, striking him again and again.

He was hit by MURDER and flew backwards in pain, MISERY hit him with slightly more force, before TRAPPED actually blew off his arm. Suddenly, however, the word CORRUPT struck him and actually _healed_ him. TERROR had no effect, and RUIN only hurt him slightly. Suddenly, though, the word SAVE hit him for huge amounts of damage, followed by an equally harming MERCY. HATRED, and CRUELTY slightly harmed him before HORROR healed him a bit, followed by an extremely painful DESPAIR and SADNESS. NIGHTMARE and DESTROY healed him, before Flowey picked up on the pattern and took advantage of the opportunity, throwing the ACT button into Gaster, turning all the words positive.

PROTECT, KINDNESS, HAPPINESS, LIFE, DREAMS, CALM, all brought his HP near zero. HOPE and FREEDOM healed him slightly, but that was more than made up for by the others, which had damaged him extremely badly.

"Wow. You really ARE kind of a freak, aren't you? I mean… "protect." "Kindness." "Happiness." "Dreams…" Even LIFE. They all… hurt you? You… really hate all of that."

" _ **And you don't?"**_

"It's _just_ like you said before… _depending on your perspective._ Some timelines ended with death and destruction, and while most people would think that was bad… you liked it. There's something you're not telling me! You don't want to destroy the world because you don't _care!_ There's something else!"

" _ **Is there, Flowey?**_ **Is** _ **there? Because I don't think there is. I want revenge, and I really don't care if the world remains intact. So if I**_ **do** _ **wipe out all the timelines, it doesn't really matter. And, therefore, I will."**_

"So why would you _not_ wipe out the world?"

"… _**Because, my friend. Because I want to destroy EVERY LAST SANS, EVERY LAST ALPHYS, EVERY LAST ASGORE, EVERY LAST FRISK, and NOW, even more importantly, EVERY. SINGLE. DAMN. ASRIEL!"**_

"Oh, my. You seem… upset. But don't worry! You'll have plenty of time to cool down, chilling in an empty timeline! Because I've decided I don't _want_ to KILL you! I'm just going to take that SOUL you've got there and leave you in some dump that doesn't have anyone in it anyway! I'll just destroy that timespace and leave you floating there! You thought the VOID was bad? Well just wait until you get a taste of TRUE nothingness!"

" _ **I hope you know that my power will keep growing, regardless of Frisk's SOUL'S uncooperation."**_

"I do know that… AND I HATE IT! How!? Where is that POWER coming from!? You're almost… a billionth of a trillionth of a quadrillionth of my power."

" _ **DAMN YOU!"**_

"HEHEHEHEHE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU CAN'T WIN! YOU'RE A DEVIL AGAINST A GOD! GOD'S ALWAYS BEAT DEVILS! YOU CAN'T WIN WITH NOTHING BUT EVIL! I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU WANT TO DESTROY, AND I DON'T CARE! YOU'RE EVIL, SO I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! AND THEN I'LL _RULE_ THIS WORLD FOREVER! AND THERE IS **NOTHING. YOU. CAN. DO. TO. STOP. ME.** Do you understand? NOTHING!"

" _ **I know something."**_

A glowing blade, tinged with the darkest of crimson, appeared in Gaster's hand.

He smiled.

* * *

 **Sorry about updating this rather than my other fics, but I've been pretty inspired for this one, I'm running out of ideas for EndTale, and I don't have as much time on my hands as I'd had before. Please review honestly, 'cause I'd like nothing more than some constructive criticism. Then again, raving reviews in all caps about how great it is are also readily accepted! :)**


	11. Chapter 11: Battle Against a True Hero

Gaster raised the blade.

"H-huh? What… how did you… that's… damn you!"

Flowey fired a barrage of bullets at Gaster, who easily blocked them, before falling toward Flowey and bringing down the knife.

24 damage!

Flowey squeaked in fear.

Gaster brought it down again.

31 damage!

And again.

58 damage!

And again.

80 damage!

And again.

143 damage!

Flowey's eyes were wide in shock, staring blankly forward. He flashed back to Genocide. So many genocides. The blade fell. Again, and again, and again. He fell into so many pieces, but Chara wasn't satisfied. They were never satisfied. Never. And now, in this new form, he remembered all of it. Every last death. And there were _millions._ Millions of them.

And now Gaster was doing the exact same thing. His screen cracked a bit, long slices appeared down the vines that grew from his body, and some of the vines were severed completely. His massive jaws tore and buckled under the force.

It _hurt._

Flowey suddenly leaped backwards and fired a laser from his jaws, sending Gaster flying.

"Where did you _get_ that, how are you so strong, why would you do that, and HOW DARE YOU!?"

Gaster smiled, healed up a bit, put his hands behind his back, and answered.

" _ **I got it right here, I'm this strong because of all the DETERMINATION I have acquired, I did that because I knew the effect it would have on you, and I dare, because I am Gaster."**_

They were so afraid. They hurt so much. When Frisk broke free from the Underground, taking their friends with them, they had been happy, so happy that the monsters were free, and so happy that ASRIEL could kill a human to get their SOUL. But once ASRIEL was here, they heard Gaster's temptation and easily caved into it. They were glad to give him power, if only he could help them exist again. So they gave him their DETERMINATION, bit by bit, one piece at a time. And then, when he asked for it, they helped him directly, loaning them their knife, their power, and their will.

But now, ASRIEL was hurt, mentally and physically. They didn't want to do that. They had seen what Frisk had done, and they liked it. Everyone was happy, and that meant that they were. But when they had tried to slow down, to stop attacking, they couldn't. Gaster wouldn't let them.

And they didn't have their DETERMINATION, either. They were alone and afraid.

"Y-you! You got that DETERMINATION… you got it from a little child who died and exists here! A little child who would do _anything_ to come back to life, and you DRAINED it from them! You don't _deserve_ that DETERMINATION! You… you…"

" _ **What? I'm legitimately curious."**_

"IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY OUTSIDE!"

Flowey whipped out a massive vine and launched it at Gaster, who dodged, brought down his knife, and sliced it in half.

"BIRDS ARE SINGING!"

A massive number of bombs flew at Gaster, who sliced them with his knife, setting them off but seeming almost completely unaffected by the blasts.

"FLOWERS ARE BLOOMING!"

Photoshop Flowey opened his massive maw and fired off a tremendous blast, yellow petals floating slowly down to the ground as Gaster blocked the shot with a crimson energy shield, before slashing yet again at Flowey.

257 damage!

"ON DAYS LIKE THIS…"

Flowey simply scowled viciously at Gaster. He couldn't LOAD. Gaster was too determined.

The enigmatic killer slashed downward with his knife once again.

380 damage!

"Guys like you…"

Gaster slashed again, five times for good measure.

499 damage!

700 damage!

945 damage!

1380 damage!

1502 damage!

Flowey's eyes were tearing up. His voice faltered. His screen was shattered into so many pieces. He backed off, letting his two remaining SOULS do the work for him. Massive frying pans brimming with flame flew at Gaster, smacking him around a bit, before he turned to see a loaded gun pointed at his face, which went off, sending him flying.

Gaster slashed at the gun, avoiding it's next strike by forcing it to float backwards to dodge the slash, before cutting one of the pans in two and swinging his blade sideways, sending oily flame everywhere. He grabbed the ACT button, healed, and avoided the sudden attack from both the Yellow and Green SOULS.

Flowey had only 1 HP left.

" _ **So. Was it that easy."**_

"Let them go."

" _ **Let who go?"**_

"LET CHARA GO!"

Flowey screamed the last sentence, tears flinging from his eyes, his voice cracking with rage, sadness, and terror.

" _ **Ooh. Let**_ **chara** _ **go. You mean… them?"**_

Gaster lifted his hand, and suddenly, he was holding them. There, hanging from their collar, tears streaming down their face, was Chara. They looked up at ASRIEL, looking for help.

"You BASTARD! Let them go!"

" _ **I'd rather not, in fact. And I don't believe you're in any position to order me around."**_

"What is wrong with you?! Why are you doing this?! I don't understand!"

" _ **I am doing this because this was done to me. Everything was taken from me. My family. My friends. My research. My life. My body. My SOUL. My very existence. EVERYTHING! And it wasn't Sans that did this to me. It wasn't Alphys. It wasn't ASGORE. It wasn't any of them. It was the universe itself. A universe that had conspired to make my life a living hell! No one,**_ **no one,** _ **understands this. Everyone thinks they know pain. Everyone has lost someone. I lost EVERYTHING! I'll GIVE YOU something to cry about!"**_

Gaster sent a surge of electricity into Chara, who cried out in pain and fear.

"Stop that! Stop that! STOP THAT!"

Flowey screamed at Gaster, the human SOULS that powered him circling his body in agitation.

"You MONSTER! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

Tears ran down Flowey's face as he screeched in pain and rage, unable to even move thanks to his injuries.

Gaster kept shocking Chara, as he began to laugh.

" _ **It's over! There is NO ONE that can stop me! No one! In just a moment, I'll have all the power I could ever DREAM of, and all the loose ends have conveniently tied themselves up! Say goodbye to your brother, Chara! You've served your purpose, and I tire of your whining."**_

Gaster raised his other hand and pointed it at Chara's face, preparing to blow them into pieces and make them even more dead than they were before.

"H-hey! Y-you can't do that! You can't _do_ that!"

ASRIEL was terrified. He struggled to move.

Nothing happened.

He tried to use his powers.

Nothing happened.

He tried to load his SAVE file.

Nothing happened.

He called out for help.

But no one came.

Gaster prepared to kill Chara.

"That's enough!"

Flowey's voice cracked, as Gaster fired.

"THAT'S _ENOUGH_!"

Flowey's last word came out as one elongated enraged screech, the pitch and tempo of his voice wavering as he let it out with all the force and volume that his supernatural body could muster.

The SOULS hovered around him, slowly circling.

Their speed increased, more and more.

Soon, they were nothing but a colorful blur.

Green light glowed from all of them, enveloping Flowey's hulking but wounded body.

He stood, and Chara looked up, somehow still alive. Somehow, their last ounce of DETERMINATION had saved them. ASRIEL stood before them and Gaster, every last inch of his tremendous frame at it's maximum hight, all of it's health recovered.

"But I WON'T let you do that!"

Flowey wore a cocky smile, his eyes flashing with power and confidence.

Gaster gasped.

" _ **B-but… HOW?! The SOULS would never heal you! You have all intention of destroying their entire race.**_

"Right now… I can feel everyone's hearts beating as one!"

So could Gaster. And he didn't like the feeling.

"And, mine included, we only have ONE goal!"

The scientist scowled in rage.

"To defeat YOU!"

Gaster balled his hands into fists.

"MONSTER! No, _whatever_ you are! For the sake of the whole world! I, ASRIEL, will STRIKE YOU DOWN!"

A flash of light exploded in Gaster's eyes, as he felt a massive rush of power fly inwards from what seemed like the entire universe, white SOUL after white SOUL passing him by, all being absorbed into the being that stood before him.

"HOWDY! Gaster! Are you there? It's me, your _worst enemy_ …"

Gaster cringed with a mixture of apprehension and rage.

" **ASRIEL DREEMURR!"**

* * *

 **Shit just got real, folks! Either way, it's finally happening. For the Child's Sake is almost over. If you've stayed with me for this long, congratulations, 'cause I'm not even sure how _I_ managed to keep doing this crap. So for those of you who are getting bored, stick around, because the FINALE is coming up fast!**


	12. Chapter 12: Finale

" _ **No."**_

"Wow. It's so great to have my body back again. Even though it was only just a little bit ago, it feels like an eternity. I feel… dirty. After I became that freak again. Now, I'm only going to ask you once. Give back that SOUL, or I will make you."

" _ **I have no fear of you. I have the combined DETERMINATION of Frisk and Chara, and I know full well that you were able to do**_ **nothing** _ **to Frisk."**_

"And I know full well that you can do nothing to me. I also know that absorbed DETERMINATION can only last so long. Eventually, you will run out. Eventually, I will be able to kill you. And then I can SAVE Frisk and Chara. I will SAVE THE WORLD!"

" _ **Sounds strange, coming from someone who was trying to destroy it moments ago."**_

Gaster flew toward ASRIEL and fired dozens of invisible pulses of energy, which the Boss Monster effortlessly tanked.

"I am not proud of that time. I was a freak. I had no emotions, no feelings, nothing but hate. Even then… somehow… I wanted to SAVE Chara and Frisk. It's funny, if you had just given up Frisk's SOUL in the beginning, none of this would have happened, and Chara would still be trapped in this void."

ASRIEL smiled brightly.

"So thank you, thank you very much."

" _ **I will**_ **kill** _ **you."**_

"You know you can't do that. Listen, Gaster, I'm in a good mood. Please, do me a favor and give the SOUL over, and I will show MERCY. You can go back to exactly where you were before, doing exactly what you were doing before, and I will SPARE you."

" _ **I would rather die FIGHTING than live FLEEING. I will find a way. I always find a way."**_

Gaster summoned up a knife and swung it at ASRIEL, striking him across the chest.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999 damage!

ASRIEL'S HP was reduced to ∞/∞.

"Did you really think that would work? It only did that much damage because I reduced my DEF to the point that it was virtually nonexistent. And even then, you had no hope of harming me. I am infinitely above anything you could dream of. Infinitely above anything your "ascended" mind could comprehend. I am entire dimensional states beyond anything else in this multiverse. I am the ultimate being. I am the beginning and I am the end. I am ASRIEL DREEMURR. And I am a GOD."

" _ **I fear no GOD, ASRIEL, nor do I fear you. I only fear that I may become**_ **bored** _ **in the battle ahead!"**_

"Your boasts do nothing to bother me, Gaster. I know full well that you can do naught of what you have said. You are nothing. You are the equivalent of a drawling on a piece of paper trying to destroy it's creator. You are a quark trying to destroy spacetime. You are an ant trying to destroy the multiverse."

" _ **ENOUGH!"**_

Gaster leaped forward and sliced again with the knife.

1 damage!

ASRIEL'S HP was reduced to ∞/∞.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to lower my DEF that time. Y'know, Gaster… I really don't have any bone to pick with you. I don't want to kill you. I don't want to do anything of the sort. I simply want to free my best friends. Please. I don't want to ERASE everything. I don't want total control of the timeline. I don't even want to RESET the timeline. I just want to SAVE someone. Can't you sympathize with that? Can't you understand?"

" _ **I understand nothing of the sort. You are a**_ **fool.** _ **You can SAVE the world, but what are you SAVING? A world of death, of destruction, of evil, of sickness, of corruption! There is nothing to SAVE! Frisk cannot absorb the SOULS, but if they could, then they would have**_ **gladly** _ **killed you for them! All beings want power, and they will do anything to get it. To betray their so-called**_ **friends.** _ **To kill any number of people. To destroy the hopes and dreams of everyone who has ever lived. It doesn't matter. The world is an**_ **evil** _ **place, ASRIEL. You are naive, you are young, and you have the kind of power that should be reserved for those who know how to use it! You don't**_ **understand** _ **this world! You think that MERCY can solve all problems, but it CAN'T! There are some problems that MERCY CAN'T SOLVE! There are some people that MERCY CAN'T SAVE! In this world, IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED! I've seen a BILLION timelines! I've seen a number of timelines that no mathematical symbol cam represent! And NOT ONE is perfect, and NOT ONE is good! The only timelines at peace are the ones that NO LONGER EXIST! I. WILL. NOT. LET. YOU. RUIN. THIS. WORLD!"**_

"Don't make me DO this, Gaster. I don't want to FIGHT anyone!"

" _ **That is because you are a FOOL!"**_

"I want to SAVE you!"

" _ **WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? I am**_ **not** _ **going to be SAVED! I don't WANT to be SAVED! I would rather DIE against you than LIVE with you!"**_

"Gaster… please."

" _ **Why won't you FIGHT me?!"**_

"It worked for Frisk!"

" _ **Where is Frisk**_ **right now?!** _ **They are DEAD, Prince! They DIED because they weren't prepared to FIGHT! They died because they were making the exact same mistake YOU WERE!"**_

Gaster fired millions of fireballs and thousands of knife strikes at ASRIEL, who tanked them all without taking one single point of damage.

"You know that isn't true. I can still SAVE Frisk, and I will SAVE Chara as well. But I want to do it without hurting you."

ASRIEL opened his arms and offered an embrace.

ASRIEL was sparing him.

"Please, Gaster. Let it go. Leave. Do whatever it is you do. Give me the SOUL. Give the monsters their happy ending, and just end this now."

"…"

Gaster stood there. So did ASRIEL.

"…"

"…"

Neither of them moved for a moment.

A single black tear fell down Gaster's cheek, and ASRIEL smiled.

Gaster trudged slowly forward, making his way into the Boss Monster's arms.

Asriel wrapped his arms around Gaster in an embrace.

" _ **I… I… I… I already told you..."**_

Gaster suddenly drew a knife and thrust it into ASRIEL'S heart.

" _ **It's KILL OR BE KILLED!"**_

∞ damage!

ASRIEL'S HP reduced to 0!

ASRIEL fell to the ground, his torso and face both badly injured, slash marks in both his cheek and side.

"You… …at my most vulnerable moment… heh. And to think… I thought… that you could fit in around here!"

ASRIEL'S SOUL cracked.

It cracked again.

It shattered.

And it broke apart, into a billion tiny pieces.

…

…

…

But it refused.

ASRIEL'S HP returned to maximum!

"Ha ha ha ha! You… really know how to hit a guy! Y'know… after what you did to Chara… what you did to Frisk… what you did to EVERYONE. I really don't think… that I can keep doing this. Maybe Frisk would have done better. Maybe Frisk would have been able to SAVE you. But I am NOT Frisk! I am ASRIEL DREEMURR! And as it so happens, I NEED A SOUL! And YOURS WILL DO JUST FINE!"

ASRIEL drew the Chaos Saber and sliced Gaster down the middle, before transforming into the Hyper Goner and tearing the entire timeline apart, along with the enigmatic scientist.

In the end, only two things were left. ASRIEL DREEMURR, the absolute GOD of Hyperdeath, his massive body and blazing wings flashing bright light around the VOID, and two single, floating SOULS, one red, and one white, both tinged with black tendrils.

ASRIEL raised his tremendous clawed paws and let loose with a massive RAINBOOOOOOOW beam, blasting away the darkness, leaving only one floating, DETERMINATION filled human SOUL, and one monster SOUL, bleached white, it's previous contents gone forever.

"Chara! Are you there? Please, come with me! We will SAVE you! All of us. Working together. As one."

ASRIEL DREEMUR floated downward in space, an exhausted, but blindingly happy Chara Dreemurr following behind. Frisk's SOUL found it's own way behind them, and TORIEL smiled into the open air, feeling good things to come.

* * *

 **And. That's. All. Folks!**

 **Wow! This is finally done, and let me tell you, it's been a wild ride. (Gotta admit, it also could've been a lot better if I hadn't kept on forgetting the epic dialogue that I inevitably came up with in the bathroom.) Either way, I'm both relieved and a little sad to see it finally end. Either way, I hope you enjoyed how it turned, out, 'cause I'm definitely glad about how everything went down, so PLEASE leave an honest review, good or bad. I'd a appreciate it.**


End file.
